Rensselaer's Doane Stuart School locked down after parent enters school with gun

By JAMES V. FRANCO

Monday, March 4, 2013

RENSSELAER -- The Doane Stuart School was briefly locked down Monday afternoon after a student's parent walked onto campus with a concealed weapon.

However, Police Chief Rick Fusco said the gun was licensed and perfectly legal and that the man did not have any intention of using the gun or of harming anyone at the school. Rather, he was there to discuss a fender-bender that occurred with another parent a few weeks ago.

"As he was speaking to the administration, his jacket lifted up and they saw a gun, and they did the right thing and called the police," Fusco said.

According to Fusco, Pierre R. Jenue, 44, of Hudson entered the school at about 11:40 a.m., and sometime thereafter a staff member saw he was carrying a firearm.

By the time school officials notified police, Jenue had left the campus, but police called him on his cellphone and asked him to return. He was taken into custody without incident.

"The situation is resolved; there is no continuing danger," Interim Headmaster Lisa Brown wrote in a message to parents. "The children are safe."

Jenue is charged with criminal possession of a weapon on school property, a misdemeanor. While he did have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, it is illegal to carry one on school grounds, Fusco said.

If there is an upside, Fusco said, it's the way the situation was handled by the school and law enforcement.

"When law enforcement gets a call like that, about a man with a gun in a school, the worst-case scenario comes to mind," he said. "While this wasn't a training scenario, the way it was handled by the school and by law enforcement could not have been better."

Pierre was arraigned in Rensselaer City Court and released to his attorney. He is slated to return to court March 13.